Disarmament
Foreword from the Secretary-General
For twenty-five years, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has helped reduce the impact of explosive ordnance contamination on communities worldwide.
Cyprus
UNMAS has been a component of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) since 2016, providing dedicated expertise in mine action planning and coordination, quality assurance of demining operations and management of mine action information. Since the suspension of UNFICYP demining activities in the buffer zone in October 2017, UNMAS is focused on mapping and survey of explosive threats, provision of technical advice and quality assurance on mine clearance to relevant actors in the north and the south, mine risk education, threat assessment and management, and data management of mine action information.
Syria
The Syrian conflict is one of the most devastating humanitarian crises of modern times and the extensive use of weapons has contaminated vast swathes of land with explosive ordnance including landmines, IEDs and ERW. While the full scale of contamination is not precisely known, in 2021, it was assessed that an estimated one in two Syrians, 10.3 million people, lived in areas suspected to be contaminated. Areas affected include agricultural land, roads, private property, hospitals, schools and other public infrastructure. Meanwhile, 14.6 million people in Syria need humanitarian assistance. Twelve million people are food insecure and 90 per cent of the population live below the poverty line. Infrastructure is crumbling, destroyed by years of conflict. Economic activity halved during a decade of war, regional financial crises, corruption, sanctions, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abyei
Several political developments impacted UNMAS activities in Abyei during 2021. Following the request of the Government of Sudan, and consistent with the strategic review of 17 September 2021, work began on the reconfiguration of United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) from a largely single troop contributing country (TCC) mission into a UN multinational peacekeeping force.
Lebanon
Lebanon has more than 6.9 million square metres of confirmed mined area within the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) area of operations, including the “Blue Line” which is a demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel. According to the Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC), contamination along the Blue line negatively affects more than 200,00 people. It also endangers humanitarian workers and United Nations personnel. Minefields in proximity to the Blue Line, UNIFIL bases, and patrol routes endanger peacekeepers and limit UNIFIL in its mandate delivery.
Foreword
The world is now home to the largest youth generation in history: more than one in every three people today is under the age of 25.
Introduction
The #Youth4Disarmament initiative of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) seeks to engage with, educate and empower young people to facilitate their meaningful contribution to disarmament efforts.
Nukes, trumpets and the “ultimate goal”—United Nations Youth Champions fireside chat with Dr. Randy Rydell
It is not every day that one gets to talk to a retired Senior Political Affairs Officer at the United Nations who is also the main trumpet in the United Nations Symphony Orchestra! Therefore, we Youth Champions for Disarmament were looking forward to the fireside chat with Dr. Randy Rydell. Having spent his professional life engaged in disarmament affairs in academia, think tanks, and Government institutions, he was able to provide diverse perspectives and introduce us to some terminological pitfalls young people could find in the field of disarmament. For example, disarmament, meaning the elimination of agreed classes of weapons, is not the same as arms control, which denotes the regulation of armament in terms of numbers, range, lethality etc.
Preface
“B flat, B sharp, Be inspired” was conceived in the corner of a small New York City apartment in the spring of 2020, the area’s peak in the COVID-19 pandemic. Isolated and uncomfortable from days of masking, I leaned into a favorite theme in my life: creating connection through singing and storytelling.
“Disarmament is my favorite word in english” – the role of the advisory board on disarmament matters in keeping dialogue going and for pushing forward in search of cooperation towards a better world
The United Nations is now needed more than ever before. But unfortunately, it is not functioning as we all had hoped and envisioned that it would. This dysfunction is on clear display in the Security Council, but it also applies to our disarmament machinery.
“Do not listen to the noise around” – promoting greater diversity and inclusivity for the advisory board on disarmament matters
In its 45-year existence, the membership of the ABDM has become increasingly diverse. In my time as a member from 2020 to 2023, it continued to move closer to gender parity — there are now eight women and seven men on the Board.
The history of parliaments
The word “parliament” comes from the French parlement, which derives from the Latin word parlar, which means “to speak”. According to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), parlamento derives from the word parlamentar, which, in its second meaning, is “to engage in talks with the opposing party to try to settle peace, a surrender, a contract or to settle any difference”.
Engagement on disarmament, weapons of mass destruction and nuclear disarmament
Beyond the history of the use of certain poisons as warfare strategies dating back to ancient Greece, we can affirm that the widespread use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) dates back to the 20th century. The first large-scale use of WMD, in particular, chemical weapons, was during World War I. Despite some efforts and attempts by the League of Nations, Mussolini would use mustard gas in the war against Ethiopia between 1935 and 1936; Japan would deploy the use of biological weapons in China from 1937 onwards, and it materialized perversely during the Holocaust in the Second World War.
Introduction
With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the cold war, contrary to popular belief, the issue of nuclear weapons persisted, in particular due to concerns about nuclear arms left in countries of the former Soviet Union. This context gave rise to a growing emphasis on addressing arms control issues from a humanitarian perspective, an approach that would gain strength over the years through the development of various arms control instruments and political commitments.
Navigating the shifting international security environment
I was a member of the ABDM from 2008 to 2013 during the period in which Ban Ki-moon was the Secretary-General of the United Nations. I had the distinct honour of chairing the Board in the year 2010.
Involvement by parliamentarians in disarmament processes
When it comes to disarmament, the first steps of diplomacy on this issue date back to the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in relation to nuclear disarmament.
Foreword
In 1978, the General Assembly established the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (ABDM). Then, as now, its main objective was “to advise the Secretary-General on matters within the area of arms limitation and disarmament.”